The signatures and crosstalk of gut microbiome, mycobiome, and metabolites in decompensated cirrhotic patients

BackgroundNumerous studies have confirmed that gut microbiota plays a crucial role in the progression of cirrhosis. However, the contribution of gut fungi in cirrhosis is often overlooked due to the relatively low abundance.MethodsWe employed 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing, internal transcribed spacer sequencing, and untargeted metabolomics techniques to investigate the composition and interaction of gut bacteria, fungi, and metabolites in cirrhotic patients.ResultsCirrhotic patients exhibited significant differences in the diversity and composition of gut microbiota and their metabolites in cirrhotic patients compared to healthy individuals. Increase in pathogenic microbial genera and a decrease in beneficial microbial genera including bacteria and fungi were observed. Various clinical indexes were closely connected with these increased metabolites, bacteria, fungi. Additionally, endoscopic treatment was found to impact the gut microbiota and metabolites in cirrhotic patients, although it did not significantly alter the gut ecology. Finally, we constructed a cirrhosis diagnostic model based on different features (bacteria, fungi, metabolites, clinical indexes) with an AUC of 0.938.ConclusionOur findings revealed the characteristics of gut microbial composition and their intricate internal crosstalk in cirrhotic patients, providing cutting-edge explorations of potential roles of gut microbes in cirrhosis

Computed Tomography Images of Spontaneous Portosystemic Shunt in Liver Cirrhosis

Spontaneous portosystemic shunt (SPSS) refers to collateral vessels that communicate between the portal vein system and systemic circulation. SPSS mainly includes esophageal varices, gastric varices, left gastric vein, recanalized paraumbilical vein, abdominal wall varices, and spontaneous splenorenal shunt. SPSS contributes to the development of hepatic encephalopathy caused by portal vein inflow bypassing and carries a higher risk of death in liver cirrhosis. Abdominal contrast-enhanced computed tomography is a major imaging approach to establish a diagnosis of SPSS and evaluate its location and feature. This review primarily describes the main contrast-enhanced CT features of SPSS in liver cirrhosis.</jats:p

Occurrence and Risk Assessment of Dietary Exposure to Deoxynivalenol in Wheat-Based Products Based Different Wheat-Producing Area for the Inhabitants in Shanghai, China

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is one of the major mycotoxins that contaminate cereals. In this study, we determined the DON level in wheat-based products from Chinese five main production areas collected in Shanghai and calculated the daily intake of DON for inhabitants using the point evaluation and the probabilistic evaluation based on Monte Carlo simulation. The results showed the positive rates of DON in the products were higher than 80.0%, with the concentrations ranging from 41.8 to 1110 µg/kg. The estimated mean daily intakes of DON for 7- to 10-year-old children and adults groups were below 1 µg/kg bw/day, the provisional maximum tolerable daily intake (PMTDI) set by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), suggesting no health risks for the consumers. However, the 99th percentiles of dietary DON exposures for children and adults exceeded the PMTDI, indicating adverse health effects might occur if the two groups intake highly contaminated wheat-based products. The potential health risks for the two groups exposed to DON in the wheat-based products from the Middle and Lower Yangtze Valley (MLYV) were higher than those from the other areas in China

Association of thromboelastography profile with severity of liver cirrhosis and portal venous system thrombosis

Abstract Background and aim Hemostasis profile is often complicated in liver cirrhosis. Thromboelastography is a global viscoelastic test recommended by the current practice guideline and consensus. This cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate the association of thromboelastography profile with severity of liver cirrhosis and presence of portal venous system thrombosis (PVST). Methods Overall, 116 and 50 cirrhotic patients were included in the Shenyang and Xi’an cohorts, respectively. Thromboelastography parameters were compared between cirrhotic patients with Child–Pugh class A and B/C, those with and without decompensated events, and those with and without PVST. Hypercoagulability would be considered if at least two of the following thromboelastography parameters were met: shortened reactive time (R), shortened coagulation time (K), increased angle, and increased maximum amplitude (MA). Results In the Shenyang cohort, 16 patients had shortened R, of whom seven (43.75%) had prolonged K and 11 (68.75%) decreased MA. In the Xi’an cohort, 24 patients had shortened R, of whom seven (29.17%) had prolonged K and 15 (62.50%) decreased MA. In the Shenyang cohort, the prevalence of hypercoagulability was not significantly different between cirrhotic patients with Child–Pugh class A and B/C (3.85% vs. 6.25%, P = 0.873), those with and without decompensated events (5.49% vs. 4.00%, P = 1.000), and those with and without PVST (4.17% vs. 5.88%, P = 1.000), which were similar to the results obtained in the Xi’an cohort. Conclusion There is a high rate of discordance between R and other thromboelastography parameters. In addition, hypercoagulability may not be related to more advanced stage of liver cirrhosis or presence of PVST

Occurrence and Risk Assessment of Dietary Exposure to Deoxynivalenol in Wheat-Based Products Based Different Wheat-Producing Area for the Inhabitants in Shanghai, China

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is one of the major mycotoxins that contaminate cereals. In this study, we determined the DON level in wheat-based products from Chinese five main production areas collected in Shanghai and calculated the daily intake of DON for inhabitants using the point evaluation and the probabilistic evaluation based on Monte Carlo simulation. The results showed the positive rates of DON in the products were higher than 80.0%, with the concentrations ranging from 41.8 to 1110 µg/kg. The estimated mean daily intakes of DON for 7- to 10-year-old children and adults groups were below 1 µg/kg bw/day, the provisional maximum tolerable daily intake (PMTDI) set by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), suggesting no health risks for the consumers. However, the 99th percentiles of dietary DON exposures for children and adults exceeded the PMTDI, indicating adverse health effects might occur if the two groups intake highly contaminated wheat-based products. The potential health risks for the two groups exposed to DON in the wheat-based products from the Middle and Lower Yangtze Valley (MLYV) were higher than those from the other areas in China.</jats:p

Association of thromboelastography profile with severity of liver cirrhosis and portal venous system thrombosis

Abstract Background and aim Hemostasis profile is often complicated in liver cirrhosis. Thromboelastography is a global viscoelastic test recommended by the current practice guideline and consensus. This cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate the association of thromboelastography profile with severity of liver cirrhosis and presence of portal venous system thrombosis (PVST). Methods Overall, 116 and 50 cirrhotic patients were included in the Shenyang and Xi’an cohorts, respectively. Thromboelastography parameters were compared between cirrhotic patients with Child–Pugh class A and B/C, those with and without decompensated events, and those with and without PVST. Hypercoagulability would be considered if at least two of the following thromboelastography parameters were met: shortened reactive time (R), shortened coagulation time (K), increased angle, and increased maximum amplitude (MA). Results In the Shenyang cohort, 16 patients had shortened R, of whom seven (43.75%) had prolonged K and 11 (68.75%) decreased MA. In the Xi’an cohort, 24 patients had shortened R, of whom seven (29.17%) had prolonged K and 15 (62.50%) decreased MA. In the Shenyang cohort, the prevalence of hypercoagulability was not significantly different between cirrhotic patients with Child–Pugh class A and B/C (3.85% vs. 6.25%, P = 0.873), those with and without decompensated events (5.49% vs. 4.00%, P = 1.000), and those with and without PVST (4.17% vs. 5.88%, P = 1.000), which were similar to the results obtained in the Xi’an cohort. Conclusion There is a high rate of discordance between R and other thromboelastography parameters. In addition, hypercoagulability may not be related to more advanced stage of liver cirrhosis or presence of PVST. </jats:sec

Spatial-Temporal Edge User Allocation: An Expectation Confirmation Perspective Approach

As the 5th generation (5G) network develops and rolls out rapidly, user requests can be offloaded to nearby edge servers for processing. This alleviates the pressure on the network backhaul and the remote cloud. Nevertheless, the edge user allocation (EUA) problem, as one of the main research challenges in the 5G era, has become a major obstacle to ensuring users’ Quality of Experience (QoE) in the edge computing environment. Conventional EUA approaches, ranging from static global allocation model to online decision-making model, have ignored the long-term impact of the changes in users’ expectations on user-perceived Quality of Service (QoS). Additionally, most existing approaches have not taken into account the distance between an edge user and an edge server, which impacts the user’s data rate profoundly. In this paper, we tackle these challenges by formulating EUA problem as a spatial-temporal one (ST-EUA), which models distance-aware QoS based on the wireless transmission attenuation and models users’ QoE based on the Expectation Confirmation Theory (ECT). To find an appropriate solution for ST-EUA problem, we develop two fuzzy control-based approaches, namely FC and BFC, for on demand scenarios and batch processing scenarios, respectively. They can balance effectively the user consolidation and server load. We conduct extensive experiments based on two widely-used real-world datasets. The results demonstrate the superiority of our FC and BFC in effectiveness and efficiency over the baselines and state-of-the-art